Operating Systems · System Calls
Official IIT answer key · IISc Bangalore · Audited Aug 2026
GATE CSE 2024 Set 1 Q57 · NAT · 2 marks
fork() and wait() system calls. Assume that the code compiles and runs correctly, and that the system calls run successfully without any errors.
int x = 3;
while(x > 0) {
fork();
printf("hello");
wait(NULL);
x--;
}
The total number of times the printf statement is executed is ________Key concept
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Topic notes
GATE tests System Calls through two primary angles: conceptual understanding of dual-mode operation (distinguishing user-level library routines and mode switches from true kernel-level traps and process switches) and algorithmic tracing of process control system calls like fork() and wait(). Recent papers feature multi-select questions (MSQs) probing which events or C standard library functions strictly trigger kernel transitions, alongside numerical answer type (NAT) questions involving state-tree tracing over loops of system calls.
Full System Calls guide →Consider the following code snippet using the fork() and wait() system calls. Assume that the code compiles and runs correctly, and that the system calls run successfully without any errors. int x = 3; while(x > 0) fork(); printf("hello"); wait(NULL); x--; The total number of times the printf statement is executed is …
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